DS having tooth removed - how bad is it?

[kittymax]

DS (8) with mild asd is having a baby tooth removed tomorrow at dentist, no gas and air, local injection i presume.

I had 2 big teeth removed aged 11 (with gas) and it was sooo painful. The gas made me drowsy and feeling sick all day, and the pain was terrible. I was spitting blood into a tissue for hours because it was too painful to swallow. Had next day off school.

DS is only having baby tooth removed so surely as its not so big and deep it won't be sooo bad, but I am worried. Will it bleed for long? How long till the numbness wears off? Will it be really painful or just like when one drops out? If anyone's been through this please tell me I'm fretting over nothing. (Gosh how we worry about our darlings!)

[BarnMummy]

I had 4 teeth removed when I was 14 or so, two at a time, with local anaesthetic injections. What I remember was that sometimes the injection hurt a bit, depending on where it was going into, but that the tooth extraction itself didn't hurt.

The most helpful thing someone did was to warn me about the noise it makes: it's not actually bad, but it sounds weird if you aren't expecting it.

I don't remember it bleeding for too long: my dentist gave me extras of those little gauze wads to pack into the gap, so I could replace them as I needed. He also suggested a tepid saltwater mouthwash, which sounded gross, but was actually really soothing and really helps to heal the wound.

Best of luck for your DS

[Ponders]

DS1 - no ASD or anything like that - had 4 top baby teeth out when he was 9 (I think) to make room for the new ones. It wasn't the first time for him, luckily - his adult teeth came in very wonky & he needed orthodontic work much earlier than usual - but 2 of them were canines, so the holes were quite deep & he was sore afterwards, but I think the injections are the worst bit.

Dentists have a very nifty tooth extracting gadget now which seems to work a bit like a corkscrew - they lift up & the tooth comes down - they don't kind of clamp pliers on & lean back with a foot on the chair!

As Barnmummy says they dish out those cottonwool wads to bite on which is quite comforting & mops up any excess blood. One thing DS did the first time was to keep stroking his numb lip, because it felt funny, which ended up causing it to swell to twice its size, so watch out for that.

Good luck. Hope it goes OK.

[kittymax]

I will use a very weak saltwater mouthwash as he's not gonna like it too salty. He's gonna wear earphones and mp4 as he's having a tooth filled at same time, but I hadn't considered the noise of the tooth being pulled. Thanks Barnmummy.

[kittymax]

It swelled up? Ah bless, bet he had no skin left to stroke.

DS has never felt numb before. That will prob bother him more than the pain actually. Unavoidable though. Will remember to be sympathetic to his wierd feeling face. Watching him try to drink will be a hoot though!